


Now you see me

by Crawlin_out_through_the_fallout



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Age Difference, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Stillborn, Unplanned Pregnancy, young Nora, young sole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-16 13:05:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10571910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crawlin_out_through_the_fallout/pseuds/Crawlin_out_through_the_fallout
Summary: The Railroad was now on it's last legs- Deacon knew that the end was near.But a new variable had now entered the game, and Deacon wanted to see where the game was heading.





	1. Prologue

Deacon groaned, staring at the carton of dirty water that sat on the small table next to him- he’d finished his last can of purified water hours ago, and he didn’t particularly feel like drinking the muddy water that sat in the carton.   
He knew he needed to head back soon- was running low on supplies, not thinking he’d be here as long as he had been. He’d packed a bag full with water, nuka cola, and various tins and cans of food (he was particularly fond of the cans of mac and cheese, but he'd much rather have a nice warm cooked meal back at HQ, where he was mildly safe with his fellow agents), knowing that making a fire would bring unwanted attention to himself- he'd seen a few raiders lurking nearby, and didn't want them to come sniffing around anytime soon. 

Deacon was doing what Deacon did best- gathering intel, the name of his game. P.A.M- the doll- had predicted something about a Vault up north just past Concord, a ‘woman out of time’ and the Institute, and Deacon had volunteered himself for a week or two long watch (he usually stopped listening after a while, tuning into other conversations around him, even in HQ). 

He was coming up to the end of his first week- his first long boring week. He’d spent a week watching a Vault- Vault 111- hoping and praying for some sort of activity, but the only activity he’d seen over the past week were the bird’s flying around and the sun going down over the hills around him. 

When he'd arrived, he’d scoped the area out a bit before heading up the hill to the vault. There was a ruined pre-war settlement just down the hill- Sanctuary Hills, he thinks he remembers-, completely void of all life forms- but Deacon was sure that he’d heard the sounds of a Mr Handy- or Mr Gutsy, he didn’t stick around long enough to find out, as he wasn't particularly fond of them types of robots. 

He was ready to throw in the towel- nothing was going to happen, he’d been doing the job long enough to know that, but he hated giving up so easily. His gut told him one thing and his mind another. Either way, he’d started stuffing the remaining things (cans of cram, potato crisps, the dreaded bottles of dirty water) into the small sack that he carried with him when he heard a noise. 

Pretty hard to miss said noise, considering it was so loud. The only way he could describe it was screeching- something that would scare of a Queen Mirelurk. The Vault was coming to life- just as Deacon was packing up after a whole week of scoping the place out, the Vault door that refused to move for him began to descend down- Deacon watched with baited breath to see what would come out.

It seemed like forever before the screeching started up once more, bring whatever was down there to the surface. The door came to a shuddering halt, a woman stood on the platform- something so soft and delicate that Deacon very quickly realised didn’t belong in the dirt and grime of the Commonwealth. The woman's hand raised up to block the harshness of the sunlight from their eyes, before they fell to their knees, throwing the gun that hung from their hand across the platform, a sob resounding loud throughout the air, loud enough that even Deacon could hear it. 

Deacon watched the woman from afar. This is it. This is what he’d been waiting for. This woman would either destroy the Railroad- or would become the saviour of the Institute.  
Deacon grabbed the small piece of chalk that resided in his pocket. He scraped the chalk on the wood by his knees. One small sign.  
Ally.  
For now.


	2. It's all over but the crying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora comes out of the vault, find's Codsworth and meets Dog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the first chapter.  
> There is mentions of rape, abusive behaviour and stillbirth in this chapter. Be aware whilst reading. 
> 
> Enjoy

The way that Nora’s hands hit the floor as she tumbled out of her cryo pod caused her hands to scratch as they dragged across the floor, causing little spots of blood to begin to form, the sting following soon after.   
Her breath was visible in front of her face, and within seconds she could feel just how cold the room was- the pods had malfunctioned which had caused the whole room to be filled with a cryogenic chill. 

Catching her breath- or at least trying to-, Nora looked up, eyes scanning the room. There were bodies lying in each of the pods- bodies that deep down, Nora knew were no longer alive- frozen in time. Her neighbours, her friends.   
And then directly across from her was Nate- her husband, a disgusted voice rung from the back of her mind, a voice filled with malice and hate. Whilst she wasn’t exactly happy that Nate had died, she wasn’t too sad either. 

She remembered the day that the couple met. 

*- - - - *

 

_Nora was young- twenty two and in her final year studying Law at an American University, originally coming from London, and Nate was a lot older- nearing thirty two, and in the army._  
Nora was out with some of her university girl friends at a local bar downtown Boston, taking the night off before their final exams- Nora hadn’t wanted to go out, knowing she needed the extra time studying, but her friends hadn’t taken no as an answer and had dragged her from their shared flat. She was on her sixth drink, and she was feeling it- and then she’d seen him from across the room.  
Normally she wouldn’t have been so brash, but she’d strolled straight over to him and plonked herself right down in his lap. By the end of the night, Nora was crying Nate’s name as he came inside her without a care in the world. 

_They hadn’t had the best of relationships. Five weeks after Nora’s final exam- and the night at the bar, she’d ended up in the doctor’s office, crying her heart out because she’d taken a home test and found out she’d ended up pregnant by a one night stand. She knew she had to find Nate, and let him know._

_He wasn’t too happy._

_Nora knew her father wasn’t going to be too happy- neither of them (after her mother’s untimely death, her father came out and told the whole family that he was in fact gay- something her mother knew- and that he’d been in a relationship with another man, with her mother’s blessing, and they wanted to be married before the year was out- her mother had died a few weeks before Nora’s eighth birthday). Both her father’s were overly protective of her, and didn’t want her throwing away her life for anyone._

_When Nate met her father's, Nora had to make sure the guns were locked away- one dad was a cop, and the other was a detective inspector, meaning they both had access to a gun, and the look on Nate’s face - or of Nate’s face, Nora couldn’t decide- made their trigger fingers rather itchy._

_They both agreed- Nate rather reluctantly- that they’d tell everyone they’d been in a relationship for a while. Rather that than everyone find out their child had been a bastard child, born out of wedlock from a one night stand._

_Nate’s family arranged the wedding around the fourth month of pregnancy, the same night of the day that Nora found out they were carrying twins- and that was the night when Nate started to drink heavily._  
Night after night, Nate would come back drunk- sometimes even drinking whilst at home, but he usually left it at that. Until the night before the wedding, when he’d raped her, hand over mouth to stop the crying and screaming. But Nora felt like she was trapped and had no choice- the show must have gone on.   
Their wedding photo’s showed a day filled with joy and happiness, but it didn’t show in their eyes. Nora wore her mother’s wedding dress- she’d almost cancelled the wedding when she saw herself in the mirror, looking very much pregnant. 

_Nate’s parents brought the pair a lovely home in Sanctuary Hills, a home they could bring up their family, and on the night that they brought their Mr Handy, Nora realised something was very wrong with the babies._  
With Nate not at home- and a mysterious phone call from a Daisy only hours prior-, it was up to one of her neighbours to take her down to Kendall Hospital- a drive which felt like it took a lifetime.   
Nora got examined, and then was given the horrible news. One of the twins- the little girl- hadn’t made it. Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, the doctor called it. Not as usual in non-identical twins, but not unheard of. The bigger twin- Shaun, Nora had chose- had been taking all the nutrients from the Placenta, meaning that the smaller twin- which Nate hadn’t named yet- was developing too small, which resulted in it being stillborn. The doctors had said that something traumatic had triggered it to happen, but Nora never revealed what had caused it. Nora chose to continue on with the pregnancy. 

_On the day Nate got shipped out to Anchorage, a strong sense of relief washed over Nora- and she felt horrible for it. She wasn’t sure how long he would be gone, but the longer the better- the doctors had told her that if the other baby were to live, she needed to be out of stressful situations._

_Nora got the date for her graduation- six weeks before her birth date. She looked like a hippo in her pictures, but looked truly happy- the first time in a long time._

_The birth was long and hard- nineteen hours long, with only a tank of gas and air. A whole month early, but her son wanted to be here. She’d given birth to the girl first- baby Samantha, and she’d cried for her the whole time she gave birth to Shaun. Shaun had been born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, so had to have an emergency procedure to save him- his loud cries had caused fresh waves of tears._

_Nora cuddled with Samantha whilst they put Shaun in intensive care. Her baby she never truly got to meet- her beautiful little girl, who she’d never get to see grow into a strong woman. Who she’d never get to dress up. Nora cried for the life that would never be._

_Nate got discharged from Anchorage the same day that Shaun got discharged from hospital, a full month after his birth- but Nate arrived home a full week after he arrived back to Boston, and Nora would later find out that he’d been visiting other women, namely a young lady named Daisy._  
As Nate threw his bag down on the floor in the living room and headed to the fridge for a bottle of beer, he’d hear the cry of his son and stop, heading straight to the nursery that they’d set up.   
Seeing his newborn son was the only time that Nora had ever seen Nate cry. 

_Shaun was six months old when they’d signed up to head in the vault, not expecting the bombs to have dropped on the same day.  
Upon seeing the news, Nora had run to grab Shaun from his crib, but was met with the back of Nate’s hand instead. Nate had carried Shaun to the Vault, Nate had cradled Shaun as they’d travelled down, Nate had carried and cradled Shaun as they’d been locked in their cryo pods. _

*- - - - *

 

It had been Nate’s fault.   
She stared at his pod from the ground, pulling herself up before slamming her fist on the big red button, praying that she’d imagined the bald guy and people in suits march in and steal her baby. But once the pod groaned to a stop, a wave of horror hit her- she hadn’t imagined it. Her baby was gone and her husband had a hole in his chest.   
She ripped the ring from his finger, feeling a small sense of relief and a whole lot of grief that he was no longer around to dictate her life. 

But even in death, he still taunted her.  
‘You’ll never find him, you’ll never find him’ His voice rang out, echoing in the back of her mind.

A scream echoed throughout 111, and a loud ring as Sole’s fist met Nate’s face. Something she’d been waiting to do for a long time. And it felt good- but the cuts on her knuckles said otherwise. Wasn’t such a great idea hitting a frozen body. 

Cautiously she moved towards the doors- she had no idea what was on the other side, but she knew she needed to find someone, and she knew she needed to find her way out of the vault- she needed to find her son, she couldn’t lose him as well. 

Walking out the room she saw a safety baton. She hadn’t seen any of the Vault-Tec staff using them as she’d entered, but if it were there she knew she might have to use it. Nora’s father’s had taught her briefly on how to use a gun, but she hadn’t really needed to use a gun before, let alone a baton- she hoped she wouldn’t need to learn. 

The vault was like a tomb.   
Dead bodies- hell, it wasn’t dead bodies, it was skeletons, littered the walkways, with trash littering the floors of the once pristine vault. The door she came through was inaccessible, so she had to walk the long way through. With caution, she pushed the buttons opening doors, walking slowly between rooms, not knowing what to expect. 

She came to a room with a window looking into the reactors, with a massive bug on the window. She watched it as it moved down to the floor, before she moved on, now filled with terror and dread- what was that thing?  
A small room contained a security terminal and some lockers, which she searched through thoroughly. She came up with some stimpaks, which she quickly shoved into a pocket, making sure that she had the lid on them as to not stab herself. 

Moving on, she found herself face to face with the large bugs- which she realised, with horror, was a giant cockroach. It moved fast, and very quickly she was stood swinging the baton around in front of her, only killing the bug by stepping on it, making her gag.   
She periodically searched through all the rooms she came across, pocketing more stimpaks she found, shoving bobby pins in her hair and pocketing a few rounds of ammo she found hidden in a mirror cabinet. 

She came across a water fountain attached to a wall in one room, and realised just how thirsty she was- her throat was dry and crying out for a drink. The lukewarm water that met her tongue caused her to once again gag, spitting the foul liquid out her mouth- the water didn’t taste quite right. 

The overseers office brought her three more stimpaks, a 10mm gun that was lying on the desk, and some ammo hidden in different areas of the room. She sat herself down in the chair in front of the terminal and loaded it up, beginning to read about a Cryolator gun- the sweet looking thing locked away in a cage. She read through every page before unlocking the doors and heading to find her way out. 

This tunnel had loads of the large cockroaches- Nora raised the gun in her hand and began firing. The ammo hit everything but the targets, creating holes in walls and burst pipes. It was only when Nora’s back hit the wall that she actually managed to hit her targets. Minutes later she was opening the final door, coming face to face with her exit- the locked vault door. 

Nora stared dejectedly at the huge circular vault door- how on earth was she going to get out. A cockroach stole her attention- and then another- before her eyes caught on something shining away on the floor by the control panel- a Pip-boy 3000. Picking the pip-boy up, shuddering as the skeleton’s arm fell out and shattered on the floor, she wiped the dust from the screen before hitting the small on button on the side, surprised to see that it still worked.   
She placed the Pip-boy on her arm, jumped as something dug into her arm- the small needle that detected rads, she later read- before she pulled the circular wire at the top, pushing it into the hole on the control panel- the Vault’s key. 

The sirens and screeching gave Nora a headache as she waited on the small platform that would lead her out- hopefully the asshole who stole her baby would hear it, and they’d know that she was coming for them. 

The door opened to reveal the platform, the gate slowly lifting to let Nora on. As the gate was lowering, Nora took one last look inside the Vault before looking up to the surface, so far away it was only a pinpoint. But it looked sunny. It looked nice. 

The platform jolted as it began to rise to the surface, a woman’s voice furthermore adding to Nora’s headache.

_‘Enjoy your return to the Surface, and thank you for choosing, Vault Tec.’_

* * * * * * *

 

With her gun raised, Nora was blinded by the brightness when she finally reached the surface. Her only response was to drop to her knees and rub her eyes, throwing the gun aside- something that wasn’t very smart. After what seemed like five minutes, she moved her arms from her face, barely able to stop the sob that came from her lips.

The nuclear bomb that had dropped not only five hours ago had destroyed everything that she had once knew. She thought of her father’s- and of Nate’s parents. Of the doctors that saved Shaun during her difficult birth. Of her friends from her Graduation day- of her lecturers. 

She looked up, seeing the destroyed earth stretching as far as her eyes could see. The trees no longer of shades of green, rather just branches that had been destroyed. The grass that once had given her hay fever gone, bone dry dirt and dust now in it’s place. She saw building’s still standing where her home used to be- roof’s caved in, roads destroyed. 

She gathered herself together before standing, heading downwards towards her old home, not noticing or feeling eyes on her back.   
She looked through the crates, coming up with bottles of rad-x and radaway, and a few more rounds for her gun that was now sat on her hip. Coming up to the gate she found bile rising in her throat at the sight- her neighbours, the ones that were turned away from the entrance of the vault, were now skeletons, their clothing tatters- Mrs Whitfield. Her dear neighbour who had driven Nora to the hospital the day she’d lost Samantha and the night she’d given birth. With a shaking sob, she continued straight down the dirt track, stumbling over the bridge and up the hill to her home. 

It looked worse up close. The colour was gone, everything was gone. Destroyed. Yet something caught her eye.   
Codsworth. 

 

*- - - - *

_“Look, Nora, I’m not trying to insult you here, but caring for a newborn baby is hard. Especially when you insist on working at that god forsaken law firm whilst caring for him.” Nate’s mum repeated, getting the same answer everytime._

_Nate’s family had been rather wealthy- very wealthy in fact-, and had brought practically everything for the babies. The cribs- one of which that got removed. The house in which they would live in. Nate’s mother wasn’t very happy when Nora got a job with the local Police department’s law firm straight out of school. Wanted Nora to have a bit of time with the baby first._  
Then wanted Nora to have one of the new Mr Handy models to help care for the baby.  
Nora was reluctant- the thing had a buzzsaw for a hand. 

_But Codsworth soon became part of the family, proving to Nora that it could care for baby Shaun better that a human in some cases- well, in Nate’s case anyway._

*- - - - *

 

“Codsworth” Aside from screaming at overgrown cockroaches, that was the first time that Nora had used her voice since waking up. It sounded harsh, and broken. But it still caught the robot’s attention. 

“As I live and Breathe….” And that was all it took before Sole broke out crying, the stress of the last… however long... falling down on her shoulders, all becoming far too much for her. As she fell, she noticed her rose bush. Cut short but still blooming- rather large flowers, but blooming flowers nonetheless. 

Codsworth talked, but Nora didn’t really listen to what he was saying. She was just relieved that something from before was still around. 

“Two hundred years…” That caught Nora’s attention, as she looked at Codsworth in horror.

“What?!” Her voice caught in her throat, how? He’d got to have been wrong, but as he continued speaking, she realised that she’d been in the vault a lot longer than she’d originally thought. Her body had hit the ground before she’d been able to fully comprehend just what Codsworth was saying. 

* * * * * * *

 

When Nora woke, the sun was no longer shining and the skies were now a hazy reddish colour. The sun was rapidly going down in the distance, causing Nora to sigh- she hoped that she hadn’t missed too much of the day- she needed to find her baby.

Her arm’s both felt heavy- as if she was coming down with the flu. She realised that one of her arms felt heavy because of the Pip-Boy on her arm. It was making a small beeping noise, causing her to look down in alarm. She snorted at the message that popped up on the screen.

_‘You had a great sleep, and feel alert and invigorated’_

Barking a short laugh, Nora swung her legs over the… sofa she’d been sleeping on. The very same sofa that she’d gone out with Nate’s mother and brought for the house, buying a small armchair which hadn’t ended up fitting in the living room, and ended up in Shaun’s bedroom. 

She looked around the room- the backdoor no longer sat in it’s place in the door frame, instead it lay on the floor with piles of dust and dirt lying on top. The coffee cup that she’d been drinking from the day they’d headed to the vault sat where she’d left it, the paper that Nate had been reading sat opposite it. Her fridge still held the three bottles of Nuka-Cola she’d brought the day before the bombs had dropped, she was surprised that they’d managed to survive 200 years. A scrap of paper still lie on the side, the shopping list she’d written herself.

_Milk_  
Baby food  
Nuka Quantum  
Sugar Bombs 

She remembers that Shaun was due to start on baby food in the following weeks- the day he hit six months old, by recommendation of the doctor. Nora wondered how Shaun was- if whoever took him had known that he was due to start solid foods, if they knew that he needed those special nappies as he was allergic to something in the biggest brand. 

“How are you feeling, Ma’am?” Codsworth’s voice brought Nora out of her thoughts.   
How was she feeling?  
She knew she ached all over- her arms burned, her legs burned, her lungs burned- she’d later find out that her lungs burned due to the rads, something that she would try to avoid for months after. She was scared and she missed her son- she missed the life that she once knew.

Nora began talking to Codsworth. She told him everything- of the Vault- of the Cryo pods. Of the man that strolled in and shot Nate whilst taking Shaun. Of the ‘malfunction’ that caused her pod to open. Of the giant cockroaches- ‘radroaches’, Codsworth had called them- and the skeletons that littered the halls of the vault that had been her home for 200 years. 

As night began to fall, Nora and Codsworth began to search around the old home’s that still stood in Sanctuary, creaking and groaning as the pair walked through. Nora knew it was a longshot, looking for her son on the doorstep of where he was kidnapped, but she refused to leave any stone unturned.   
She came up against some more Cockroa… radroaches, and some large blowfly’s that Codsworth called a bloatfly. After looking in every house, Nora finally ended up on the wooden bridge that lead out of Sanctuary. 

Codsworth mentioned some people down in the small town of Concord- they might be able to help her. As Nora started walking across the bridge, she suddenly stopped and turned, staring at her friend- why wasn’t he following.

“They don’t like me too much…” Came her Mr Handy’s reply. “They shot at me every time I went down there. Be careful Ma’am, and bring home young Shaun safe.” And with a horrible feeling in her gut, she turned and began crossing the bridge.

* * * * * * * 

 

There was a duffle bag on a hill on the other side of the bridge. Nora rooted around inside, and pulled out a hunting rifle and some ammo- which she quickly pocketed with shaking hands. She turned and took one last glance at Sanctuary, before she turned and continued walking. 

She very quickly ended up at the Red Rocket across the hill- a small marker on her pip-boy lit up the screen, a marker that told her where she was, and she made a mental note to continue checking to make sure she wouldn’t get too lost. The lights on top of the Red Rocket still lit up the sign on the roof, creating a bright glow to contrast the harshness of night time. 

Nora was startled by a loud bark, and she quickly raised her gun before noticing the large German Shepherd that came bounding towards her. She knelt down to the dog as it ran forward and rolled on its back, showing her it’s belly for rubs. 

“Hey boy…” She rubbed her hand over it’s fur, not expecting it to be as soft as it was- someone clearly looked after this mutt. “Where’s your owner’s boy?” 

A bark in reply. 

“You want to travel with me until we find them?” She asked, feeling silly as she knew the dog couldn’t talk back. But it did stick his tongue out to one side, another playful bark before it sprinted across to where Sole had just come from, heading straight into a bush with a bark.   
Nora was sure she’d heard someone to tell the dog to ‘go away’, but when she got close enough to the bush, there was nothing inside. She would have continued to search, but something else drew her attention.   
The ground was shaking, vibrating beneath her feet before a large mole rat burst through the earth. The dog was on the mole rats before Nora’s mind caught up with her- she raised the hunting rifle she found and began shooting, jumping on the back of a truck to keep them away from her feet and ankles. 

With a final shot- and several missed shots- the last mole rat hit the ground. She hoped it was the last one anyway. Jumping off the bed of the truck, Nora cautiously walked over the the building, and began to look through.   
She was tempted to pocket the nineteen dollar bills that she found in the till, but the lawyer in her told her not to- that was stealing, and she didn’t want to anger the owner- she needed as many friends that she could get. 

Leaving through one of the side door, Nora walked down a grassy bank towards Concord, hearing the sound of gunfire coming from her destination. She crouched down, her new doggy friend following her lead, and began to sneak into the town, not wanting to be noticed until she was able to assess the situation.   
Crouching down against the wall and peaking around a corner, Nora saw a man stood on the balcony of the Museum of Freedom reloading a- laser weapon?- before firing at several men that were scattered on the ground. Nora’s gut told her that the man on the balcony was the good guy, and the good guy clearly needed help.  
The men were dressed in- mismatching armour. Leathers and metals covered the chest and parts of the arms and legs, and Nora knew she’d need to find some for herself- she wanted as much protection as she could get. 

She began walking around the outskirts of the town, creeping as to not draw too much attention to herself. She ran into the doors of the church that her and Nate had been married in, before she began firing at the men, luckily killing the first one straight away- the attention was now on her.   
Along with the guy on the balcony (and Nora was sure that someone else was firing, but she couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, and who it could be) and Nora’s hunting rifle, they managed to make quick work of the men- the raiders. 

Once she was sure that each of the men- and women- were dead, she came out of her cover and walked to the doors to the Museum, looking up to speak to the man who was desperately trying to get her attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deacon will be back soon, I promise!
> 
> Let me know what you thought of the first chapter.


	3. Sixty Minute Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora finds herself fighting her first Deathclaw

Preston watched on as the woman clumsily took out all the raiders that ran riot throughout the streets of Concord. He was weary- is this woman a woman who’d come to help him and the remaining settlers that hid inside, or would she end up being their end. They were all tired- their feet felt heavy with every step that they took, after all, they had travelled the length of the Commonwealth over the past couple of weeks. 

Once a bullet found its way into the shoulder of the last raider- for now- Preston called down to the woman and the dog, calling out and asking her for help. She reached down and grabbed the laser musket and fusion ammo that sat on the floor, before they opened the door, leaving Preston outside all alone. 

*-*-*-*-*-*

The man wearing the colonial duster called down to Nora, asking her to head inside and help out the settlers that were trapped inside. Nora briefly wondered if it were a trap, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to turn away and not help (it would weigh too heavily on her conscience), and they might be able to tell her if they’d seen Shaun.

The doors to the Museum of Freedom felt heavy to push open- they groaned and grumbled as Nora pushed them open, the dog that she’d found following closely at her heels. Crouching down as she walked through the door, she tried as hard as possible to silently shut the door behind herself. 

Raising the laser gun that she’d picked up from the floor in front of the entrance to the museum, she aimed and then fired straight at the man up on the first floor, nearly throwing up when the body exploded into a cloud of red powder and dust. Swallowing back the bile that had raised to the back of her throat, Nora walked forward to the double doors right in front of her. Giving them a shake, she realised that they were locked, and she had no way of opening them. 

Looking around, she noticed a doorway to the side of the room, and began walking towards it, peaking around the corner to make sure that no one was there, before slowly making her way around. After walking through several- very creepy- mannequins, most of which nearly ended up headless, she ended up face to face with another man, who soon ended up dead just like his friends outside. Before walking out to walk up the stairs, Nora noticed that the man had dropped somethings on the floor- ammo for a gun that sat in her back pocket, a stimpak, a packet of gum and a fragmentation grenade. Nora rifled through and pocketed anything she deemed useful, pulling the chest armour off the dead man and placing on herself, before heading through the doors. 

Before Nora could head upstairs, her attention was pulled over to the locked gate with a terminal sat next to it, a pre-war fusion core sitting behind the door. She walked down the ramp, pushing buttons on the terminal before realising that it would need to be hacked. After being locked out twice, Nora sighed with relief when the terminal beeped and the door unlocked, and she headed inside to grab the fusion core. 

* * * * * * * 

Nora crouched down as she listened to the men around the corner, complaining about something- Nora was too nervous to listen to what they were saying. How was she going to deal with two of them in one hit? Then something in her pocket caught her attention- the grenade. 

Pulling the pin from the top of the grenade, Nora tossed it low on the ground, watching as it bounced noiselessly off the wall and settled against one of the men’s leg. Before they had the chance to realise what had just hit their feet, and explosion rocked the floor, body parts coming flying across the room. Nora grumbled as a splatter of blood hit her face, before she turned the corner and began rooting through a bag on the floor, finding more ammo and a couple more grenades which she quickly pocketed for later.

Nora creeped up the stairs, stopping when the floorboards groaned under her weight, and nearly screamed at the dog as it went running past her up the stairs. Hurrying behind the dog, Nora found the dog with it’s jaw clenched around a man’s ankle, and she quickly raised her gun, putting a bullet into the head of the man, quickly turning in time to stop the other man from bringing his gun down on her head.  
She’d blocked the gun from meeting her head, but hadn’t been quick enough to block the gun aiming for her gut, knocking the wind out of her. The dog bounded past, nearly knocking Nora over, before grabbing the other man around the ankle, allowing Nora enough time to place one last bullet, straight into the forehead. 

As the body dropped to the ground, Nora felt her own body soon follow. She sat down on the floor, back pressed up against the wall. The dog wandered off, leaving Nora alone, feeling exhausted from all the fighting. She didn’t know what was behind the door, and right now, didn’t really feel like finding out.

The dog returned, a bottle of Nuka Cola hanging out of his mouth. He dropped the bottle into Nora’s lap, before sitting next to her, resting his head on her knee. Nora opened the bottle, popping the cap into her back pocket- old habit really, she was making a chime for Shaun’s room the weeks leading up to the bombs dropping- she began to gulp down the lukewarm, highly irradiated sugary drink. 

The door slamming open caused her to splutter and choke on the drink, quickly looking up to assess who had opened the door- the man from the balcony. 

“Man, I don’t know who you are, but your timing’s impeccable” He said as he walked towards her, reaching down to help her up and guide her back into the room they were all hiding in. “Name’s Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen.”

Nora couldn’t help but snort, remembering all those years ago when she was a child doing her history lessons at school. She’d learnt all about the Minutemen and what they had done. 

“Minutemen? So now I’m travelling Back in time?” Preston clearly didn’t understand the double meaning behind Nora’s words. 

“‘Protecting people at a minute’s notice’” He rattled back, as if he were reading from a script. “That was the idea. So I joined up, ‘cause I wanted to make a difference. And I did, but things began to fall apart. Now it looks like I’m the last minuteman standing”

“Who are these people?” Nora asked, nodding her head at the four other people in the room, including an old woman who was currently scratching the dog behind the ear. 

“Just folks looking for a new home. A fresh start.” Gears began turning in Nora’s mind- they were clearly heading to Sanctuary. “I’ve been with them since Quincy. Lexington looked good for a while, but the ghouls drove us outta there. A month ago there were twenty of us, yesterday there were eight. Now, we’re at five. It’s just me and the Longs- Marcy and Jun- that’s old Mama Murphy over there on the couch. And this here is Sturges...”

Nora was tempted to ask what a ghoul was- but deep down she knew she didn’t really want to know. Preston and Sturges began to explain their plan. They’d get the power armour from the roof and take out the rest of the raiders, before they’d head off up to Sanctuary to set up a new settlement. Nora was tasked with the hard bits- she was going to go and get the power armour, and take out the raiders outside- she’d apparently done a good enough job of it so far. 

With the fusion core in her hand, Nora went to walk past the settlers to the door on the other side of the room, the door that would lead her to the roof. She was distracted by the old woman talking to her.

“You’re not what I expected Dogmeat would find in that little neighbourhood. But oh, so much better” Her voice sounded worn and old, but soft and comforting at the same time. It sounded like Nora’s grandmother on the day that she had met baby Shaun.

“He’s a good boy. Smart too” Nora replied, thinking of the way that Dogmeat had gripped the man’s ankle, allowing Nora to get the perfect shot. 

“Oh, indeed. Dogmeat’s good at finding folks who need him, and he’ll stick by you now. I saw it” 

“Please tell me what you know” Was this woman a psychic? Did she know where Shaun was?  
“Just listen to me, actin’ the crazy old lady. It’s the chems you see- they give ole’ mama Murphy the ‘sight’. Been that way since I was a young girl” Nora felt herself deflate- she was a chem addict. 

“I can see a bit of what was, and what will be. Even a bit of right now” Nora was tempted to walk away- she wasn’t going to be giving the old lady chems to keep her addiction going. And it felt wrong to lead her on.

“And right now I can see something coming. Drawn in by the noise and chaos.” Nora stared at the lady as she continued to speak. “And it’s... angry”

“What is it? Mama Murphy, I need more. Please” Nora practically begged- she didn’t want to face something angry without knowing what or who it was.

“I see… I see… Oh, I… It’s horrible kid. Claws and teeth and horns. The very face of death itself.” Nora nearly groaned- of course the war would bring some big horrible clawry, horny beast. 

Thanking the old lady, Nora began to walk to the door, ignoring the sarcastic comments coming from Marcy from her spot on the floor. Grabbing the small bobblehead toy on her way through, Nora began to head up to the roof to face the monsters that would wait for her outside. 

* * * * * * * 

When the door to the roof wouldn’t budge on the first push, Nora thought that she might have needed to find a key- that would have been a nightmare, considering that the door to the museum hadn’t been blocked and the raiders that were still milling around outside could still get in. All it needed was a hard budge, and Nora very quickly found herself falling to the hard ground, once again catching herself by her very sore hands. 

Standing up, Nora walked over to the table, pocketing a holotape that was lying on the side to listen to later, before walking up to the power armour stood in the middle of the ground, left abandoned by it’s previous owner, whose skeleton now lie sat upright against the wall. 

Nora opened the small hatch where the fusion core sat, before twisting and opening the suit, climbing inside once it had opened enough for her. Once the suit had closed behind her, she began to feel claustrophobic- she hadn’t realised just how small and enclosed it was, just like the cryo pod that had taken the life of her husband and stolen her child. 

Ignoring how uncomfortable the suit made her feel, Nora began to walk forward, ripping the minigun from the stand before crouching (a very difficult feat whilst wearing power armour) and walking towards the edge, finding that there was loads of new raiders that had appeared since she’d been inside.  
Nora started by taking out people that were higher up- there were several raiders up on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. She began to aim for them, taking unsteady shots to try and take them out- Nora had never really been very good with a gun, and the last few hours had been the most she’d ever used a gun in her whole life- all two hundred and thirty years of it. 

She’d taken out all of the raiders that had been hiding on the roofs- well, all apart from one- one that was dressed a little differently from the other, with a leather looking jacket and a pair of sunglasses sat comfortable over the eyes. A few bullets barely missed him, before he ducked down and fled. Nora would have to deal with him later if he reappeared. 

Nora had turned around to gain cover to reload her gun, but hadn’t realised just how close she was to the edge of the building. She hadn’t realised she’d fallen until she was halfway down, and the floor was shaking with the impact of Nora landing in her power armour. The impact of her landing had caused the surrounding raiders to stumble, giving her a chance to raise her gun and shoot a few of them before they had a chance to recover. 

With the help from Preston Garvey- and Nora was sure that there was another gun shooting at the raiders, but she wasn’t too sure who it was- or if they were really there- it didn’t take very long for all the raiders to dead. Nora walked around, checking in open building for any raiders that could have been hiding, but she found nothing. Just as she exited the final building, she heard a loud clattering and clanking coming from the drain cover, and she turned just in time to see a giant creature emerging from underground- ‘claws and teeth and horns’, Mama Murphy’s voice echoed in the back of her mind. ‘And its angry’.

Nora tried to creep to the upper floor of the building she was in, but it was to no advil- the creature had already seen and heard her moving, and was currently trying to find it’s way inside, the wooden structure creaking under the pressure.  
Nora stood on the balcony and began unloading her gun into the giant creature, swapping the small gun she had been using to the minigun she had ripped off the vertibird, and she began aiming for it’s head. As more and more of the bullets found it’s way into the skin on the face of the creature, which just resulted in the creature just getting more mad and angry. It raised it’s arms and crashed them down on the balcony, and in the moment as Nora was falling to the floor with wooden rubble falling on top of her, she was eternally grateful for the power armour for keeping her safe. 

Nora kicked the debris off the power armour, then began pushing herself up- she needed to make some space between her and the creature. She was vaguely aware of Preston shouting to her behind them- telling her to bring the creature towards him as his weapon couldn’t reach them.  
Standing up, she was aware that the fall had damaged one of the suits legs- but she needed to move. She began walking backwards- raising her gun at the same time, and started firing at the same time. The creature followed, albeit a bit slower than it had been. 

Just before the creature died, it took one last swing at Nora, throwing her across the road and knocking her to the ground, nearly causing the helmet to cave in to her head. Nora felt the ground shake from the weight of the creature falling; she heard Preston shouting behind her, calling for her to get up, trying to make sure she was okay. But she felt heavy- she was sure that she was bleeding, somewhere on her body- and she felt light headed. She tried to get the helmet off her head, but before she could raise her hands to take it off, she felt herself passing out, leaving enough time to see a pair of sunglasses helping her take the helmet off her head before she was met with darkness. 

* * * * * * * 

The sun was setting in the distance when Nora woke- Preston was kneeled down next to her, and the small rag tag group of settlers stood off to the side, talking among themselves about finally reaching somewhere safe.  
Preston grinned down at Sole when he realised that she’d finally woken- and somewhere at the back of her mind she heard him talk- mentioning that it was good that she’d managed to get the helmet off and stim herself before she passed out. She was going to mention that she hadn’t got the helmet off herself, that the man with the glasses had done so, but she thought better of it, and kept quiet.

Sturges offered Nora a can of purified water, which to took and drank from gratefully- before Preston and Sturges helped Nora stand up and take the power armour off, allowing her to finally breathe and assess the damage.  
Preston helped Nora apply a couple of stims to the places that needed them the most- Nora had a deep cut that ran up one side of her arm, and the dent in the helmet had caused a nasty cut on the side of her head. After rinsing the drying blood off, and administering the stim where it would work the best, the group slowly began walking back to where Nora had just come from, Sanctuary.

The walk back took longer than the walk to Concord, but soon they were crossing the bridge to the place they would soon call home.

* * * * * * * 

Sturges had agreed with Nora to help her make some beds for the settlers. He had a good head on him, and together, over a few days, they had managed to build some bed frames for the mattresses- ones that had been left in the homes of Nora’s old neighbours- that they had been using to rest upon.  
Using some old scraps of cloth that Nora had found, along with a pre-war sewing kit she had found hidden in one of her neighbours homes, Nora began sewing together a small blanket for each of the settlers- not that they really needed them, the nights were warm and humid. 

After beginning to set up the basics of a settlement- beds, food, water and a bit of defence- and with a lot of help from Sturges, Nora realised she could no longer put it off. 

She needed to speak to Mama Murphy. She needed to find her baby.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I've been tossing the idea of this story around for a while, and thought, why not.
> 
> Hopefully it's not too bad, and I hope you'll enjoy where this is going to go- the chapters will get longer, I promise. 
> 
> For now, please enjoy


End file.
